Impact of scaling up SARS-CoV-2 vaccination on COVID-19 hospitalizations in Spain.

BACKGROUND: The advent of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) vaccines has been associated with a significant decline in coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) hospitalizations and deaths. However, little is known about the benefits experienced by different population groups and/or using distinct vaccines. METHODS: The Spanish public registry was analyzed to examine associations between weekly vaccination scale-up and the incidence of COVID-19 hospitalizations by age, sex, and vaccine modality. The study period extended from January 2020 to June 2021. RESULTS: A total of 363 960 COVID-19 hospitalizations were recorded in Spain during the study period, with three peaks in March 2020, November 2020, and January 2021. The incidence of COVID-19 hospitalizations per 100 000 population increased exponentially with age, on average 71.5% for each decade older. Overall, individuals older than 60 years of age accounted for 65% of all COVID-19 hospitalizations. The speedy vaccination rollout since the end of 2020, with prioritization of the elderly groups, resulted in a rapid fall in COVID-19 hospitalizations starting in February 2021. The benefit was already noticed 3-4 weeks after the first dose, regardless of the vaccine modality. CONCLUSIONS: COVID-19 hospitalizations increased exponentially with age in all three peaks of SARS-CoV-2 infection in Spain. Early mass vaccination of people over 60 years of age prevented a fourth wave of COVID-19 hospitalizations during the spring of 2021.

Coronavirus fake news detection via MedOSINT check in health care official bulletins with CBR explanation: The way to find the real information source through OSINT, the verifier tool for official journals.

This research aims to design and prototype a tool to perform intelligence on open sources (OSINT), specifically on official medical bulletins for the detection of false news. MedOSINT is a modular tool that can be adapted to process information from different medical official bulletins. From the processed information, intelligence is generated for decision making, validating the veracity of the COVID-19 news. The tool is compared with other options and it is verified that MedOSINT outperforms the current options when analyzing official bulletins. Moreover, it is complemented with an expert explanation provided by a Case-Based Reasoning (CBR) system. This is proved to be an ideal complement because it can find explanatory cases for an explanation-by-example justification.

PyDSLRep: A domain-specific language for robotic simulation in V-Rep.

Calculating forward and inverse kinematics for robotic agents is one of the most time-intensive tasks when controlling the robot movement in any environment. This calculation is then encoded to control the motors and validated in a simulator. The feedback produced by the simulation can be used to correct the code or to implement the code can be implemented directly in the robotic agent. However, the simulation process executes instructions that are not native to the robotic agents, extending development time or making it preferable to validate the code directly on the robot, which in some cases might result in severe damage to it. The use of Domain-Specific Languages help reduce development time in simulation tasks. These languages simplify code generation by describing tasks through an easy-to-understand language and free the user to use a framework or programming API directly for testing purposes. This article presents the language PyDSLRep, which is characterized by the connection and manipulation of movement in mobile robotic agents in the V-Rep simulation environment. This language is tested in three different environments by twenty people, against the framework given by V-Rep, demonstrating that PyDSLRep reduces the average development time by 45.22%, and the lines of code by 76.40% against the Python framework of V-Rep.

Advanced Sensors Technology in Education.

The topic presented will show how different kinds of sensors can help to improve our skills in learning environments. When we open the mind and let it take the control to be creative, we can think how a martial art would be improved with registered sensors, or how a person may dance with machines to improve their technique, or how you may improve your soccer kick for a penalties round. The use of sensors seems easy to imagine in these examples, but their use is not limited to these types of learning environments. Using depth cameras to detect patterns in oral presentations, or improving the assessment of agility through low cost-sensors with multimodal learning analytics, or using computing devices as sensors to measure their impact on primary and secondary students' performances are the focus of this study as well. We hope readers will find original ideas that allow them to improve and advance in their own researches.

Web Page Design Recommendations for People with Down Syndrome Based on Users' Experiences.

At present, there is a high number of people with Down syndrome interested and trained to be an active part of society. According to the data extracted by our surveys we know that only 6% of the population with Down syndrome feels isolated in daily activities. However, when the activity requires the use of a computer, the percentage of people who feel isolated increases to 18%. This means that there are obvious website accessibility barriers that make it difficult for users with Down syndrome. To solve this problem, it is considered necessary to make an exhaustive study about Down syndrome. We know that the trisomy of chromosome 21 causes a series of symptoms that directly affect ones Internet browsing capabilities. For example, speech disturbances make communication and speed difficult. This guide is based on a neurological study of Down syndrome. Alterations in listening make understanding audio, retention of audio concepts and speed difficult. The alterations in the physiognomy of movement make it difficult for them to act quickly. Many of these alterations are caused by cognitive disability. After assessing the needs, the benefits of Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 2.0 (WCAG 2.0), and the existing usability guidelines are analyzed and those that may be useful for this profile are extracted. User tests are carried out through two websites developed specifically for this study with the aim of demonstrating the level of effectiveness of each of the planned guidelines. Considering the neurological characteristics of this intellectual disability, research is developed that seeks to extract a list of useful accessibility and usability guidelines for web developers.

A Clustering WSN Routing Protocol Based on k-d Tree Algorithm.

Clustering in wireless sensor networks has been widely discussed in the literature as a strategy to reduce power consumption. However, aspects such as cluster formation and cluster head (CH) node assignment strategies have a significant impact on quality of service, as energy savings imply restrictions in application usage and data traffic within the network. Regarding the first aspect, this article proposes a hierarchical routing protocol based on the k-d tree algorithm, taking a partition data structure of the space to organize nodes into clusters. For the second aspect, we propose a reactive mechanism for the formation of CH nodes, with the purpose of improving delay, jitter, and throughput, in contrast with the low-energy adaptive clustering hierarchy/hierarchy-centralized protocol and validating the results through simulation.

Decentralized Online Simultaneous Localization and Mapping for Multi-Agent Systems.

Planning tasks performed by a robotic agent require previous access to a map of the environment and the position where the agent is located. This creates a problem when the agent is placed in a new environment. To solve it, the RA must execute the task known as Simultaneous Location and Mapping (SLAM) which locates the agent in the new environment while generating the map at the same time, geometrically or topologically. One of the big problems in SLAM is the amount of memory required for the RA to store the details of the environment map. In addition, environment data capture needs a robust processing unit to handle data representation, which in turn is reflected in a bigger RA unit with higher energy use and production costs. This article presents a design for a system capable of a decentralized implementation of SLAM that is based on the use of a system comprised of wireless agents capable of storing and distributing the map as it is being generated by the RA. The proposed system was validated in an environment with a surface area of 25 m 2 , in which it was capable of generating the topological map online, and without relying on external units connected to the system.